Intel Corp's quarterly outlook and results soared past expectations on Tuesday, sending shares 7 percent higher and fuelling optimism over a tech sector recovery before the crucial holiday season. Intel's rosier than expected forecast and comments about recovering demand for personal computers cheered markets and helped lift shares in tech heavyweights from Dell to Hewlett-Packard.
Intel Chief Financial Officer Stacy Smith told Reuters in an interview the technology sector was leading the way out of the economic downturn as demand for PCs rebounded. Intel reported a net profit in its third quarter ended September 26 of $1.9 billion, or 33 cents per share, compared with $2.01 billion, or 35 cents per share, a year earlier. That exceeded the 28 cent per share profit expected on average by analysts, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
It forecast fourth-quarter revenue of $10.1 billion, plus or minus $400 million, and said gross margins in that period should be 62 percent, plus or minus 3 percentage points. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S, on average, expected fourth-quarter revenue of $9.5 billion and a gross margin of 56.86 percent. Revenue fell 7.8 percent in the third quarter to $9.4 billion from $10.2 billion a year ago, but surpassed the $9.06 billion expected by analysts on Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
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